How
could she answer him? Yesterday she would have welcomed his suit. But now, her
duty as a daughter took precedence. “Please I don’t think you understand. If
could marry, I would. There’s no other for me.”

“Nor for me.” Then, as if what she
had been trying to say registered with him, he stepped back. “What do you mean?
If you could marry? Why can’t you marry?”

“My father needs me.”

“You can’t sacrifice your happiness
for an ageing parent!”

“He needs me now!”

“And I need you too, Miss Richmond,more than any woman I’ve ever known.
There must be some way we can resolve this. I could make Witton my home if
that’s what you want, as long as I can be with you.”

“Even if we lived at Witton, what
will happen when you go back to sea?” Her hand flew to her mouth, as if to hide
the words she had just spoken, but it was too late. The real question had been
asked.

He took another step back. “This is
nothing to do with your father, is it?”

The tension spread from her
shoulders the length of her spine. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak, she
could barely breathe.

“You’re terrified of being left
alone, aren’t you? Is it something to do with your mother? Did she detest the
months, or was it years, she had to wait alone for her husband’s return?”

Bella stiffened, as if a huge spring
inside her wound up tighter and tighter. He had discovered her secret fear. And
the ease with which he had been able to uncover her vulnerability shook her to
her very core. An only child, she had constantly been at her mother’s side
throughout her formative years. She had been loved, indulged, and pampered,
while her mother had grieved silently for her absent husband. Now years later,
her inner fear exposed, helplessness swept over her, and left her drained of
emotion.

Quentin looked into her
eyes. “You may be content to bury what’s between us somewhere deep in your
memory, but I’m not. I want you to be my wife. I can’t promise I will never return
to the sea. As an admiral’s daughter, you know you cannot expect a sailor to
make such a vow. My feelings for you, Miss Richmond are genuine, but do not ask
me to choose between you and the sea. My love for both is inseparable. I asked
you to share my life because I thought you understood me. I am but an honest
sailor with salt in his veins and true love in his heart.”

Available in print and ebook from Amazon

http://tinyurl.com/byycyu3 (UK site)

or http;//tinyurl.com/agg5hha (USA site)

Marrying the Admiral's Daughter was a contender for the Romantic Novelists' Association Joan Hessayon Award 2012

Reader's Reviews:

"Excellent reading for the historical/romantic novel fan, with a good plot and very well written, it seamlessly takes the reader back to another time."

"I love Regencies but there are so few novels that venture to sea with a hero to die for...how I envied Bella Richmond."